Kato Energy submits proposal for Amulet offshore project

Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) has invited public comments for Kato Energy’s proposal for the development of the Amulet field and possibly the Talisman field.

The Amulet field
is located 132 kilometres north of Dampier. It lies in around 85–90 meters of
water within retention lease WA-8-L in the Carnarvon Basin offshore Australia
and contains light crude oil.

Kato Energy stated
in its proposal that it planned to develop the Amulet field using a relocatable
system known as the ‘honeybee production system’ which entails the use of a
self-installing jack-up platform.

The company
added that environmental impact was minimized by having no fixed platform, and
all infrastructure would be removed before demobilizing from the field, and
most elements will be re-used on the next project, allowing for ease of
decommissioning and minimizing the number of mobilizations required.

The Amulet
field has previously been appraised by Tap (Shelfal), with three wells drilled
in 2006. The Amulet field is classified as a small field with a short life span
and proven contingent resources of 6.9 mmstb.

Kato Energy
also proposed to carry out a site survey of the proposed location of subsea
infrastructure, drilling of up to two production wells, one dual-purpose
production/water injection well, and allowance for a sidetrack, installation,
hook-up and commissioning of a mobile offshore processing unit, catenary anchor
leg mooring buoy and mooring arrangements, flowline and riser, and floating
storage and offloading (FSO) facility.

Furthermore,
the company is looking at the option to develop the Talisman as a subsea
tie-back to Amulet. The oil field is around 3.5 kilometres west of Amulet,
within the same license. Talisman did produce oil but is shut-in in 1992 and has
been abandoned since.

It is worth noting that the Australian offshore safety regulator NOPSEMA released the Amulet offshore project proposal for public comment. The public comment period ends on 15 October 2020.